Exactly seventy years ago, in 1939 Dr. Clara M. Davis, a pediatrician in Chicago (USA) published the results of an experiment that was intended to disrupt food conceptions dietary period. Indeed, it is so shocking that even today it is not taken seriously, and no researcher has the courage to play such an experiment, if only to debunk it.
The experiment involved what he called Davis "Self-selection of children's food weanling" .
The experiment took place in a kind of orphanage converted into a laboratory for nutrition research for the occurrence, it participated in 15 children, children of single mothers or widows who could no longer attend to their livelihood, it lasted total of six years and the permanence of the children ranged from six months to four years and a half. Imagine then the scope of this experiment for six years at every meal the amount of each food eaten (as well as what children poured on the ground!) Was assiduously recorded. In addition to this we must add the record height and weight, observations on the intestinal, bone X-rays and blood analysis.
beginning of the experiment the children had just been weaned, that had six to eleven months of life and had not yet eaten any food that was not the milk. Davis chose this age because children, not having personally experienced these foods and have not been influenced by the ideas of older people, could not have prejudices or inclinations towards them. The food used during these six years were all fresh and not stored.
The grain was used in grains (no bread), sugar was not used, the milk was proposed but not dairy products.
The food preparation was as simple as possible. The meat, vegetables and fruits were finely chopped, crushed or grated. The fruit and lettuce were served raw. The oats, wheat, beef, bone marrow, eggs, carrots, peas, cabbage and apples were served either raw or cooked. The other foods were almost always served cooked. The cooking was done taking care not to lose soluble substances and without adding salt or seasonings. The water was only added in cooking cereals. The foods were combined together (no preparation like soups or baby food) in order to ensure that each food was chosen only for himself.
The 34 foods were: water, whole milk, buttermilk, sea salt (proposed by himself, not flavor), fruit (apples, bananas, orange juice, fresh pineapple, peaches), vegetables (tomatoes, red beets, carrots, peas, turnips, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, potatoes, lettuce), grains (oatmeal, cornmeal, crackers, rye, wheat, beans, barley grain), meat (beef, lamb, bone marrow, bones jelly, chicken, sweetbreads, brain, liver, kidney), fish (cod).
All foods were served every day, spread over three or four meals.
Each item was served on its own separate plate.
The food was absolutely not offered to the child, either physically or verbally. The order was given to nannies to sit next to the child sitting in silence, with a spoon in hand, making no movement. If and only if, the child picked up a food or the nurse pointed with his finger he took a spoonful and, if the baby opened his mouth, fed him. He could not make any comment on what the child ate or did not eat, could not indicate in any way or attract his attention to a particular food, or could prevent or refuse to eat a few food. The child could eat with your fingers or in any other way would, without comment or correction by the nanny. The tray could be removed only when the child was finally stopped eating, usually after twenty-five minutes.
results on health and diet of children : All 15 children were able to find what you always wanted to eat, appetite, and they have grown vigorously. Constipation and laxatives was unknown were never used. Colds and influences always lasted three days and no complications of any kind. Apart from a case of an epidemic of tonsillitis and mononucleosis during six years there were no serious illnesses. When the children were to have a cold or the flu, stopped eating one or two days before the onset of symptoms, and began to eat with very hungry one day before the final disappearance of symptoms. During his convalescence favorite foods were the raw beef, carrots and beetroot.
Some of the children were not in good condition before starting the experiment: some were malnourished and underweight, and four children were suffering from rickets. In the tray was one of rickets also proposed a glass of cod liver oil: the child chooses it and drank it from time to time, until blood tests and x-rays showed that rickets was healed, after which he drank no more. The other three non-stunted children was proposed cod-liver oil, but recovered in exactly the same time the other, nor without receiving medications or supplements, or ultraviolet rays. Regardless of their initial conditions, all the children came to the same situation of optimal health, and they were also healthier than the average for children their age, to that of other doctors who have examined.
results on the adequacy of dietary choices in terms of norms and standards nutrition: the average daily caloric intake was within the limits set by standard for their age group, except for those children who were malnourished at the beginning of the experiment, which during the first six months eccedettero standards. Caloric intake decreased over time as expected and no child was thin or fat: the body size reflected a very evenly. Regarding acid-alkaline balance, resulted in a moderate prevalence of food potentially alkaline.
Of the total calories consumed during the experiment, the protein constituted 17%, lipids 35% and 48% carbohydrates. But depending on the child's age and the proportion of protein ranged from 9% to 20% and decreased with the growth and increased activity physics. No statistics were made on minerals and vitamins, but Davis is assumed that the shortages were very unlikely. We must also recognize an excuse: his time there were no computers, so no database, no spreadsheets, no statistical programs: as a simple child's doctor, his work was already quite monumental enough to think that 36,000 meals were well recorded .
As for calcium and vitamin D, although children spend considerable periods of time without drinking milk (or little), x-rays always showed excellent bone calcification.
Contributions to the study of the understanding of appetite and how it works: the study suggests the existence of some innate, automatic mechanism that regulates the balance of essential nutrients, and appetite is part of this mechanism. Diets dall'appetito choices reflected more or less the ratio of nutrients recommended by pediatricians and nutritionists. In contrast, the types of foods and their quantities did not conform entirely to pediatric practice. Each diet was different from the others: fifteen ways of eating, and in no case of cereals and milk were predominant. Also contributed to the apparent confusion that tastes changed out periodically, and meals were often in odd combinations of food that would constituted a nightmare for any dietitian (eg, orange juice for breakfast + liver, eggs + milk + banana for dinner). It was clear that the appetite was developed by selective sensory experience, that is the basis of taste, smell and certainly the feeling of ease and well-being postprandial, similar to that of breastfed babies.
Davis clearly admitted that the specificity of the experiment lay in the choice of food on offer, based on the assumption that the instinct for food only work with food as natural as possible, such as those consumed by hunter-gatherers. He also said he wanted to continue the experiment comparing instinctive functioning of children who were offered natural foods with that of children who were brought processed food (bread, food served or mixed, recipes with more ingredients, sugar, dairy products ...), but regretted not having more money disposal to do so (the United States were in the midst of the Great Depression). Although today we are in the midst of an economic depression as serious, I exhort scientists and nutritionists to conduct the experiment that the Devis was unable to continue in order to determine precisely what conditions are ideal food instinct works with greater precision .
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